COVID-19 relief funds plugged the hole in the budget but what about 2022? Don’t let them fool you when they say there is no tax increase in Miami-Dade this year. The tax rate remained flat, but it didn’t roll back, which means property owners will pay a bit more because property values continue to increase […]
Art Acevedo’s brash style choca con los comisionados, days are numbered There is so much to say about Miami’s new police chief that City Commissioner Joe Carollo wants to have a whole special meeting just about him. Chief Art Acevedo was under fire even before he made that “Cuban Mafia” comment at roll call that […]
What Urban Development Boundary? Despite many concerns and more questions than answers about the eventual project, Miami-Dade Commissioners voted 9-3 Thursday to move along an application to expand the UDB and convert 800 acres of farmland into the South Dade Logistics and Technology District. Developers used an inflated number of jobs as bait to basically […]
Former Miami-Dade Transit Director Alice Bravo pleaded no contest on Wednesday to an accusation that she violated the county’s ethics code by lobbying two months after leaving her $250,000-a-year county job — rules require a minimum of two years — and she was basically slapped on the wrist by the Commission on Ethics and Public […]
Looks like Miami Mayor Francis Suarez won’t have any real challenge in this year’s election. So, fueled by his hashtag-friendly banter and bend on technology and the national media spotlight, he can daydream about higher office. Everybody’s been buzzing about it for months, speculating mostly that Suarez was setting himself up as a potential VP. […]
Despite a “listening” session for stakeholders to raise concerns, the request for proposals on the Rickenbacker Causeway overhaul (and privatization) went out exactly as it was first expected to: As a near total replica of the unsolicited Plan Z proposal that looks like a done deal. Guess nobody listened. This is just theater, pretend transparency […]
Here we go again. Again. Another developer wants to push beyond the limits of zoning and land use in the Crafts Section, less than six months after the city approved a controversial upzoning that just doesn’t seem like enough. Trammell Crow Residential, one of the nation’s largest homebuilders, will go before the city’s Board of […]
Jeff Porter and Elvis Maldonado have challenged incumbent Steve Losner The Homestead mayoral race is shaping up to be a brutal battle and could be a repeat of the “bloodbath” two years ago. So far it’s a three way that practically guarantees a runoff: Either there will be a rematch between two old rivals or […]
¡Pero por supuesto! Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had to know that his stance against mask mandates in public schools — and his threat to defund schools and take away the salaries of school officials who defy him — would become campaign fodder for the 2022 election. He didn’t have to wait long. Congressman and former […]
Lobbyist hints at a bait and switch for a smaller project It was, indeed, a “slam dunk” against Ponce Park Residences, as former Coral Gables Commissioner Wayne “Chip” Withers called the planning and zoning board meeting Wednesday night where seven members voted unanimously to deny zoning variances and land use change requests from Allen Morris […]